Mea Culpa

Odysseus

11

AUG/17

The Party (2017-07-22)

Davey, Mx. Hood, and Kartesh were contacted by a socially odd baroque-steampunk-styled android named Odysseus who asked them to throw a birthday party for Odysseus’s Grandfather. Odysseus had a scheduling conflict, but would provide the group with funding and meet up with their Grandfather after the party. They only asked that the group make it clear that Odysseus was the one responsible for the party.

Upon investigation, the groupdiscovered that Odysseus’s arrangements included a hermaphroditic alien erotic dancer, a supply of vintage stimulant drugs, and Riker cage fighters. Odysseus’s grandfather turned out to be Jason Lo, a software developer from the time of the Visitation who had recently been unbubbled. Lo was on the station to get acculturation treatment.

The group sorted the party out: they got the drug dealer to switch to softer product, got the dancer to tone their act down, and convinced the fighters to perform professional wrestling. They arranged for a cake and appropriate guests. At the height of the party, Lo asked a surprising question: Whose birthday was it?

The group discovered that this wasn’t Lo’s birthday, but really the anniversary of the release of a software project on which he was a lead developer: the social media project that eventually became the Engine Funtime.

The Investigation (2017-08-05)

The group tried to contact Odysseus for explanation and compensation for expenses, but were only able to reach an automated answering system. When they demanded money, it sent them to a meeting room where a broker was waiting to satisfy a debt. He was confused but agreed to pay the group instead of Odysseus.

However, when the group pressured him for more details on Odysseus, he went into some sort of memetically-induced seizure that caused him to shoot at them wildly with a gun. Davey was able to break the trance and, upon analyzing the broker’s documents and making threats, the group was directed to a berth on the docking ring.

The group arranged for armed support from the Sysops and headed for the berth. When they entered the ship, the group was sealed in with Odysseus, who explained that the android did not actually exist. The party learned that Odysseus was just a cover identity for Funtime itself.

Kartesh tried to blast a hole in the airlock, but was only partially successful. Odysseus blew the docking clamps, venting some of the air and sending their ship tumbling away from the station. Odysseus split open into a branching tempest of dangerous mechanisms and tried to kill the group to suppress knowledge of the deception. The group neutralized Odysseus and distributed evidence of the identity, at which point Funtime abandoned its efforts and the group was able to escape back to the station.